SAO A False Hope
by Alta6
Summary: Taoreta, a victim in a drunk driving incidence, has lost the ability to walk. She hears about NerveGear and thinks that this could be her chance to walk once more. However, will her miracle cure turn into a nightmare? *This is my first fanfic.
1. Chapter 1

**A/N: This is my first fanfic ever written! As such, any reviews comments on this are extremely appreciated! Even if they are just saying how awful this is! But hopefully I'll get some supportive ones too. Anyway see you at the bottom.**

The day had arrived.

Taoreta's eyes flew open as the alarm on her clock went off. She flipped over onto her side, slamming the snooze button before the alarm had another chance to buzz. She glanced at the clock through the edges of the blond hair that fell over her eyes.

_7 A.M. Just 6 hours till she might finally be able to…no. She couldn't let her hopes get to high. Not after all she had been through._

She reached over and grabbed the jeans and shirt she had laid out on the bedside dresser the night before. She slipped out of her pajamas and pulled on the fresh clothes with practiced ease. She then turned over once more, reaching out for her crutches, before realizing they weren't there.

"Saro, you are so going to regret this…"

After muttering various other curses about her brother under her breath, she looked about her room and saw them lying on the floor next to her door. She rolled out of bed, and started crawling on her hands on knees toward the crutches. The braces on her lower legs rattled slightly as they dragged along the ground.

After a minute of struggling, she finally managed to stand up, leaning heavily on the door. Her eyes had been watering the whole time, as she remembered that incident. She remembered lying in that hospital bed three years ago when the doctors told her that her legs her lower legs had been completely crushed by the car that had flown off the road the previous night. At that time, no one knew the full extent of the damage caused to her legs, and she just wanted to throttle the drunk that had knocked her out of the kendo junior national championship. However, after three weeks in casts, the casts were removed and that was when she realized the truth. Taoreta began physical therapy that day, and after a full week of intense sessions, she was still unable to stand without the support of crutches and braces. She progressed no further, even after another month of sessions. She could hobble about with the crutches, but she could no longer walk unassisted, and moving about in a wheelchair was far easier and more convenient. The doctors told her that the muscles in her legs had been damaged beyond repair, and that she would never be able to walk again.

_Until today…I could walk again today._

After wiping the tears from the edges of her eyes, Taoreta opened the door and went down the hallway to the kitchen. Upon arrival, she saw a bowl of cereal and an orange already peeled and sliced, as well as a note from her mother. "Your father and I will both be working late tonight. We expect you to feed yourselves tonight. And Taoreta, good luck today. Love, Mom".

She set the note down, and then turned to see another similar bowl of cereal next to her own. Smiling wickedly, she proceeded to pour a large amount of salt into her brother's bowl before hearing him come down the stairs. She quickly began eating to try and cover her smile.

Her brother meanwhile walked into the kitchen with his own amused smile plastered to his face.

"G'mornin sis!"

It was obvious by his attire that Saro had just woken up, with his dark brown hair sticking up at odd angles and his pajamas hanging off his skinny frame. He slid into his chair and poured a large amount of milk into his cereal. He then casually popped one of the orange slices into his mouth, before turning excitedly toward his sister.

"You ready for Sword Art Online?"

This whole thing had been her brother's idea. Saro had felt awful when he found out about his sister's predicament, and did everything he could to help her get along as best as she could. He helped her with various tasks around the house, as well as helping her get to school every morning. He also helped her find new activities to participate in. He even went so far as to set up and organize the new wheelchair basketball team just so that his athletic sister could continue playing sports.

Then when he heard about Sword Art Online, the new video game featuring the NerveGear system, he immediately started doing research. He figured that since the system detected signals from the brain in order to move the character in game, Taoreta would be able to move and walk as she had once been able to.

He really was a good little brother, when he wasn't playing tricks on his sister.

"Yeah, I really hope this works." Taoreta responded as Saro ate a large spoonful of his cereal.

She couldn't stop the laugh that escaped her as Saro gagged on his cereal.

After a brief look of rage passed over his face as he glanced at his sister, he too began chuckling, before saying, "Yeah okay, I deserved that."

The alarm on Taoreta's watch went off after her 10th straight basket.

_12:30, time to get ready._

She wheeled her chair back into the house, and Saro came over to her.

"Alright, time to open these bad boys up."

He tore open the boxes containing the two NerveGears, and began setting them up while Taoreta went to take a shower. As Saro opened the boxes, he could not help but smile as he saw the two helmetesque devices.

_These are my sister's hope._

After setting them up, he went to his sister's room and found her sitting on her bed. She had changed into sweatpants and a loose t-shirt, with her wet hair sticking to the collar of the shirt. He handed her the helmet and the two repeated their plan. The first thing Taoreta would do when she arrived in the world of Sword Art Online would be to send a friend request to her brother and wait for him to find her. Then, she would try to move.

Saro left to go to his room, and Taoreta laid back and slid the NerveGear over her head.

This was it. She checked her watch and stared at it until the time flipped from 12:59 to 1:00.

She flipped on the NerveGear and hesitantly spoke the words that would allow her to once again walk as she once had.

"Link start!"

**So what did you think? I kinda understand if you say I'm knocking off the Absolute Sword a little bit, but that isn't the intention. I hope to have another chapter up next Sunday, but with school ending soon I can make no promises. Anyway please review/comment and any feedback at all is appreciated. Thanks!**


	2. Chapter 2

**A/N: First of all, WOW! I did not expect to get the amount of support I got (I wasn't really expecting much but still). Thank you so much if you reviewed, followed or favorited! Thanks so much! Second of all, I am aware I am an awful person. I was planning to have this out last weekend, but spending the past week with my cousins on the other side of the country has resulted in me being fairly unproductive. I apologize for the late update, and plan on getting the next chapter out by Wednesday at the latest this week in order to make up for it. Anyway, here is the chapter.**

Yuka spawned in. She cared nothing for the strange world that had suddenly appeared around her, but rather pulled the sword from her sheath, something that had once come naturally - and jabbed it point first into the ground, leaning her weight against it.

_Something is off…_

Yuka could not tell what was wrong, but immediately tears came to her eyes as an odd feeling passed through her legs.

_Please let it work…_

Taoreta, now seen as Yuka to all the smiling players appearing around her, carefully maneuvered so that she was able to sit down on a nearby bench. Then, after calming her breathing and blinking the tears from her eyes, Yuka swiped her right hand down the middle of her field of vision in order to open her menu. After several confusing minutes of trying figure out the menu (during which she almost deleted her default sword and armor) she finally managed to send a friend request to her brother Saro, who had chosen the username Teito for his character. Within 15 seconds, a notification appeared in the upper right corner of her vision, saying "Teito has accepted your friend request." She then navigated to her map and found the location of her brother. He was apparently about 10 yards away, standing next to fountain.

Yuka looked toward where her brother was supposed to be and her jaw dropped.

In the same spot where her brother's icon was on her map, a towering, 6'10" man with a giant sword slung all the way down his back stood. He had ice white hair that contrasted wonderfully with his blue eyes. His face had a very handsome build, and his toned muscles made him look quite attractive. Then, after a quick double-take at the stunning man, her face grew red and she yelled angrily at the man with the name Teito above his head, "SARO, YOU IDIOT!" At this point in time the image of the man in front of her was ruined as his face broke into a familiar boyish smirk. Teito called back, "What was that Sis? I can't hear you down there?"

He walked over to the bench where Yuka sat, cupping his ear and bending down in order to "hear her better." As he bent down, Yuka backhanded him in the face, causing Teito to lose his balance and fall flat on his back, earning him some laughs from several other nearby players.

After slowly climbing back to his feet, Teito looked back down at his sister, with the same smile on his face. "Sorry, I just couldn't help myself." However, his face once again took on a serious look. "Are you ready to give it a shot?" he asked cautiously.

For a moment, Yuka hesitated. She wanted to say no, didn't want to get her hopes up, only to have them all come crashing down on her. And most of all, she didn't want to walk here. She feared that if she could walk here, in this virtual, or rather fake world, she wouldn't be able to make herself go back to the real one. She didn't want to strut through the streets of this fake world with strangers she didn't really know, only to have leave and be handicapped around her friends in the real world.

Just as she was about to tell Teito no, something happened. Another female player approached, looking to be about Yuka's age of 16. The girl looked down on Yuka with a confused look on her face. "Why do you seem so sad?" the girl asked tentatively. "This place is so cool. And you are one of the lucky 100,000 who gets to play it. Why do you look so down?"

At these words, Yuka looked up from her place on the bench and took in the view that surrounded her. She saw the breath-taking water fountain that her brother had been observing, and the magnificent cityscape that extended as far as the eye could see. Though these things lacked any form of modern appeal, they both were beautifully made of stone, and the whole place had a medieval look to it that she couldn't help but love.

And yet despite the wonderful scenery around her, Yuka was caught up in the eyes of the girl in front of her the most. They were large and innocent, pure in every way. No way were those the eyes of some random 16 year old. They looked like they belonged to someone younger, perhaps the age of Saro in real life, the age of 12. And the way the girl talked, so sweetly and innocently, seemed to suggest the same thing. And that is when it hit her: that no matter how fake the people around her appeared to be, they were real. Just like this girl couldn't hide the fact that she was still a sweet kid, and that Teito's older looking face broke every time he smiled, she realized that most people would be the same way. They would not be able to hide their true selves here.

The girl in front of her stuck her hand out for Yuka to take. "My name is Silica. It is nice to meet you," she said with a sincere smile on her face. Yuka raised her hand to the corner of her eye in order to wipe a tear away. She then put out her own hand and said "My name is Yuka. It is a pleasure." Silica took Yuka's hand and pulled her to her feet. Yuka stood. Silica cheerfully pulled on her arm, saying "C'mon, apparently there are some shops up ahead that sell some really cute armor."

And Yuka walked. At first she held tightly to Silica's hand, but as they walked she gradually loosened her grip, and finally took off running, tears streaming down the side of her face. Silica paused, looking slightly confused for a second, before her face lit up and she too started running, calling toward her new friend, "Hey wait for me!"

Teito tailed the two, grumbling to himself, "Why didn't I get to say hi to the pretty girl?"

**So what do you think? Decided I would try to make this chapter somewhat emotional before I try my hand at some action that will happen next chapter. Keep in mind this is my first fanfic, so any and all reviews are greatly appreciated! Special thanks to my friend for proof reading this and tmstriff for the advice! See you soon **


	3. Chapter 3

**A/N: Again I am a super awful person. My schedule has been way out of whack this week, and this chapter is way too late. From now on I'm just going to stick to weekly on Sunday because that is the time that works best for me. However, if I do end up having time in the middle of the week I will post another chapter when it is ready. But expect a new one at least every chapter. In order to make up for my awfulness, this chapter is longer than the others, though I hope to try and make this the normal chapter length. Also don't know if I have said this yet, but I don't own Sword Art Online, although I think that would be obvious.**

**Anyway, sorry for the wait but here is the chapter. **

After an hour of shopping with her newfound friend, Silica, Yuka finally left the armor shop alongside Silica, with a disgruntled Teito tailing behind them. The girls were each admiring each other's new armor. Silica had chosen a red colored armor, while Yuka had chosen orange. They had even tried to convince Teito to get a new set, but he refused, saying the defensive stats of his default armor weren't all that different from any of the armors the shop had. However, Yuka saw right through that lie, knowing her brother well enough to know he wouldn't change armors until he found a cooler looking blue set.

Yuka looked at her surroundings once again, losing herself in the sights around her. The medieval styled buildings made her feel out of place, but then again with her armor and sword, she must've fit the part pretty well. She spotted an NPC run bakery nearby and looked at her clock. It was about three o'clock in the real world, so she figured it couldn't hurt to have a quick snack. She quickly mentioned it to Silica and Teito.

Silica was more than happy to grab a snack, but Teito let out a huge groan. "C'mon ladies, aren't we ever going to actually play this game!? SAO stands for _Sword_ Art Online, not _Shopping_ Art Online. Let's go take out some monsters! And Yuka, there is food waiting back at our house in the real world. No reason to spoil your appetite now." Yuka sighed at her brother's words, but couldn't help get excited as well. She'd been cut off from her greatest passion, kendo, since the accident, and now would be the moment to feel the experience again. To feel the weight of a weapon in her hand, and have the ability to manipulate it at ease. She missed it as much as walking.

As she agreed and began to turn toward the town's exit, Silica stopped briefly. Yuka looked back at her and was surprised to see a 12-year-old's embarrassed look, eyes facing the ground, cheeks flushed red. "Umm…do you two…live together?" After an awkward pause, Teito burst out into a thundering laugh while Yuka, flustered, said "No god no…er well yes but it isn't what you think…." She let out an exasperated sigh, and then turned once more toward the town exit, slapping him across the face in the process.

"Let's just go."

The group, which had now officially formed a party, exited the starting city and began their search for a monster to fight.

"So…um… do either of you know what you are doing?" Silica asked quietly. "I'm not really sure what to do here…"

Teito smug grin slowly fell down into a disappointed frown. "Same here. I've never been a fight or anything like that before, but I think I kinda know what to do."

"Stand aside ladies, and leave this one to the pros." Yuka walked up, holding her sword at her side, feeling its weight its power.

_I still remember this. I can do this._ Yuka thought to herself. _Or at least I better do it or Teito won't ever let me live this down._

After another few minutes of wandering, Yuka finally found what she was looking for. A brown pig was wandering, its beady red eyes at first staring out into the distant horizon, but snapping into focus on Yuka as she entered the creature's view. It squealed angrily as it rushed her, its tusks flashing menacingly in the afternoon light.

_Amateur._

The pig appeared threatening at first glance, but Yuka looked over it with a veteran's eyes. The pig was rushing at her full force, with no chance what so ever to try and turn itself. As easy to avoid as a clumsy lunge from a rookie swordsman. As such, there was never a chance it would hit her. And, just as landing a powerful overhead blow to the opponents sword when they missed would likely leave them disarmed and defenseless, the same blow should stagger the pig, leaving it helpless before her.

Yuka registered this thought in about half a second, and implemented it immediately. However, instead of using her full strength, she savored the strike. She felt more like an artist guiding a paintbrush rather than a swordswoman striking a pig. The sword followed her hand, leaving an afterimage in the air as she pulled it down, slashing the pig above the shoulder. She allowed the blade to flow through the shoulder, and as it passed through crouched down slightly and brought the blade to her side in preparation of delivering a horizontal slash in order to finish off the heavily wounded boar.

As she entered the stance to deal the blow, something happened. The blade, which had before followed her hand in a beautiful dance-like way, now glowed brightly and stopped itself. Then, without any assistance from Yuka it swung at an absurd speed, leaving the green glow in its path straight through the center of the pig. The glow hung there for a second, before disappearing as the boar broke into an innumerable amount of blue, glass-like shards.

Both Teito and Silica stood back in amazement. Not only were they both amazed at the skill which Yuka exhibited, but they were both caught up in the beauty of the exploding pig. "Amazing," Silica said with her mouth gaping.

"What do you know Yuka. You still got it." However, Teito words went unheeded by his sister.

Yuka stood up, enraged at what she had just witnessed. "What the hell was that!?" she yelled furiously. Her moment of triumph had been ruined. The weight of her sword, which she had previously guided and led on its path of destruction had turned against her, instead telling her what to do and pulling her along. She would not stand for this disgrace to her beloved art.

"Yuka, what's wrong? Aren't you happy you can swing your sword again?" Teito asked, confused by his sister's rage.

"That wasn't swinging my sword. That was watching a sword that happened to be in my hand while it swung. What was that anyway?"

Suddenly, a voice came out of nowhere from behind them. "It is called a Sword Skill miss."

The trio turned to face the man who had appeared. He was a younger man, perhaps the age of 20, with a red and yellow bandanna around his head that went well with his red armor. Behind him stood another boy who appeared to be the same age, with long black hair that stretched down in front of his face. He wore blue and brown armor and has his sword lying across his back instead of at his side.

He stepped toward the group with a giant smile plastered on his face. "And might I add, you used it quite beautifully there for not knowing what it was."

"Who are you?" Teito asked as the man came to a stop a few steps away from Yuka.

"My name's Klein. The anti-social one behind me is Kirito. We were just hunting some monsters when we saw this fight going on down here. Though I don't know if you can really call it that. It was kinda one sided against that poor boar there. And may I have the honor of your names?"

The three introduced themselves, although Klein mainly focused on Silica and Yuka rather than Teito. He offered to kiss both of their hands in greeting, and both quickly declined.

"So you seem to know about these 'Sword Skill' things Klein. Anyway you know to turn them off?" Yuka asked, hoping to try and get as much information from this man as possible.

"Ermm… I wouldn't know that much about. I'm still kinda getting used to how this game works. Ask Kirito, he is the one who would know."

Yuka turned to face the black-haired swordsman behind Klein, who had approached Teito and the others had introduced themselves.

"Sword skills activate when you initially take up a set position. As long as you set up a specific, anyone can perform the Sword skill as long as they have the proper level. So for instance, when you got into that crouched position in order to finish off the boar earlier, you activated the sword skill with your initial positioning."

"So is there anyway to prevent these Sword skills from activating?"

"I'm not sure why you wouldn't want to use them," Kirito responded, "but if you can push the sword out of the position before the sword skill can completely start-up, the skill should fail to activate and you would launch an unaided attack."

"Really, that is so cool!" Silica exclaimed after hearing Kirito's explanation. "How do you know so much about the game anyway?"

"I was in the beta." Kirito replied simply.

"Really, that's awesome!" Teito was practically bouncing with excitement at hearing those words. "So you know like everything about the game right? Can you teach us?"

"I'd rather not. As long as you know how Sword skills work you can pretty much figure out the rest of the features yourself. And you'd better get going before other people start hunting monsters too. See ya later."

With that Kirito turned and started walking away. "Hey Kirito, wait up!" Klein started jogging in order to catch up to Kirito. When he finally caught up to him Klein turned back around and shouted "Happy hunting!" as we waved.

The group waved back at Klein as the bandanna wearing swordsman walked away.

"Well we better take his advice. After all, we do need to practice these Sword skills." Teito said, leading the group in the opposite direction.

"You and Silica can take point. I'm going to see if I can figure out how to stop these Sword skills." Yuka told her fellow party members.

While Teito and Silica started slaying boars using the intense power of their Sword skills, Yuka stayed away from the frontlines and worked on stopping her sword skills. After a few failed attempts, she finally began to understand what Kirito was saying. Whenever she entered a basic stance, her sword would start to glow and she would lose control of it. She learned to push through this pause, and after two hours of practice, finally had it down so that she could successfully stop all of the Sword skills she currently had access to. Each time she successfully stopped her Sword skills, the glow that had once been on her sword would hover there for a brief moment in time, creating an odd visual effect. During that time, Teito and Silica had both learned the basics of combat and had learned how to use their sword skills, although Teito was significantly more skilled at them than Silica was.

"Hey Teito, don't you think it is about time we logged out and had dinner?" Yuka called out to her brother.

"Yeah, you're probably right. Let's head back to town and then log out from there."

Teito and Silica talked as they walked back to town, and Yuka simply thought about what had happened today. She could once again walk and swing her sword, two parts of her she thought she had lost forever. She was smiling as she said farewell to Silica back in town, having friended her as they got ready to log out. As the siblings began rummaging through their menus looking for the logout button, they heard a sudden loud sound over the hustle and bustle of the starting city; one that would change their lives forever.

_Bong. Bong. Bong._

**A/N So what do you think of it? I appreciate all the support I have received so far and hope to continue writing for a while still as it is something I greatly enjoy. Once again sorry for the late update and thanks for the support! See ya on Sunday! Oh yeah, and SAO Season 2 in three days WOOT! **


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